Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Spicy Shrimp Etouffee - If You're Texting the Recipe Just Enter "A2FEY"

For whatever reason, I've recently been on a Cajun/Creole cooking kick. Here's the finished shrimp etouffee video recipe I promised last week, and man, was it good! Etouffee is one of New Orleans' most famous dishes - it's spicy (or can be), aromatic, brightly flavored, and very comforting, all at the same time.

Etouffee comes from the French word for "smothered," and I would describe the dish as a rich, shrimp gravy served with rice. In general, Creole cooking is not that common for the average home cook. I think, from a distance, it may look like Creole cooking is fairly complicated. While some recipes do have lots of steps, most of the classics, like this shrimp etouffee, are quite simple to make.

Speaking of famous New Orleans recipes, folks in my age group may remember with some amusement, the blackened redfish craze from the early eighties. Chef Paul Prudhomme, of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, introduced America to that old Cajun favorite, blackened fish. It was later discovered it wasn't even a Cajun recipe, but that's a chef for you - we never let the facts get in the way of a great story.

This was a smoke alarm's dream recipe. Blackened redfish is basically a fillet covered in spicy dry rub, and seared on a red-hot cast iron pan. This is a great recipe when made under a massive restaurant exhaust fan. At home, it produced copious amount of smoke, which forced many a chef outdoors. Anyway, enjoy the video and be sure to give this easy, and smoke-free, recipe a try!
Click here for ingredients and transcript

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome Chef. Thanks much and as always...much appreciated. AP

Anonymous said...

love it!

hkfreak said...

For the bowl rice trick: You can use water.

Anonymous said...

If You're Texting the Recipe Just Enter "A2FEY"...

Now that right there was funny-I don't care who you are.

Jeff

Anonymous said...

That looks gorgeous. I'm sitting here at work dying to get into my kitchen so I can make this....

Anonymous said...

I am stunned. Chef John pronounced Worcestershire.

I enjoyed this and the other videos.

Chef John said...

thanks, i've been practicing in my spare time.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Don't let him fool you - that was a voice-over from Dictionary.com pronunciation!

Anonymous said...

Just got back from a week in New Orleans yesterday. First time. Fantastically unique place. Terrific food, people, music, hot weather, and residential architecture. All just as amazing as you've heard about.

One of the best overall restaurants I've ever been to : Jacque-imo's. Wow. A great experience.

Never even heard of etouffe until I got there. Delicious. Can't wait to try this one.
In the recipe though, you forgot to mention the humidity. When do I add the oppressive NO humidity?

Scott - Boston

Chef John said...

glad you had a great time. yes, i've heard the humidity is brutal... "the air you wear."

Anonymous said...

The trick is to sleep all day, stay out all night, and wear very little. For some reason on Bourbon Street you'll see girls on the balconies, and with the slightest provocation, they pull their tops above their... well you get the idea. Yes, that humidity is something else!

Stephanie said...

lol, I liked the txt joke :)
Oddly enough, it helped me figure out how to pronounce it...

admin said...

By the way, this is also awesome diet food. I skip the rouex (butter and flour). You miss a little of the flavor (not a lot), but you are left with a very low fat, low calorie tasty dish. Use brown rice instead, and it's actually health food.

ira said...

Thanks for this recipe! I'm wondering if I could use cooked shrimp instead of raw shrimp? I've found a great deal on cooked shrimp via shrimp rings at my local grocery store. Would this change the outcome of the recipe very much?

Chef John said...

never cook cooked shrimp! if you can help it.

Michael said...

I'm coming in here late but wanted to say I cooked this last night and it turned out great. I have tried so many recipes from all over the net but none could come close to my favorite cajun haunt. Even the guy who says "BAM" all the time couldn't pull it off. The reason???? I believe the 25 minutes of simmering has a lot to do with it.

Anyway, great job chef....I loved it.

wifey_4_lifey said...

I'm allergic to the shellfish, so would scallops be a good substitute for this recipe?

Chef John said...

i believe scallops are also a shellfish!

wifey_4_lifey said...

Oh I know scallops are, but for some reason, I'm not allergic to them. It's a strange thing lol.

Chef John said...

Then go for it.

1Bigg_ER said...

Chef John, is the heat turned up to cook the shrimp or is it low heat through out the whole process?

Colin said...

Chef John, it seems that your video and ingredients were taken down. Can you point me in the right direction of send them to me.

Thanks,

Colin

Unknown said...

I found the recipe on allrecipes, but it's just written instructions, no video. But I'm trying it tonight!
http://americanfood.about.com/od/seafood/r/shrpetoufee.htm

Chef John said...

That's About.com, NOT Allrecipes! I've not done a video for that for AR. :)

Unknown said...

Dear Chef John! What happened to your video how you make it A2Fey, I cannot find it online anymore

Speed said...

Please repost!

Unknown said...

Will the recipe be posted again?